10.15.2009 | by Chris Richter | Filed under Academics, Administration, Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
Below is the roundtable discussion and Q&A with Chancellor Jim Woodward from the Autumn 2009 issue of NC State magazine. A pdf version is also available.
Taking a Hard Look
A conversation about NC State’s culture
Three top university officials step down in May and June, after an investigation of a former governor raises questions about a job created for his wife. The chancellor in the interim pledges to create a culture of openness and transparency. The chair of the Board of Trustees appoints a committee to review what happened. Alumni send in letters from all over the world, expressing disappointment and support and asking questions.
Time for some soul-searching.
We asked Chancellor Jim Woodward about his perceptions of the university and plans for moving forward. (See end.) We also asked a group of six people—each with a unique perspective on the events of this summer—to come together in the Park Alumni Center for a freewheeling discussion about the university’s culture, media relations, governance and more.
The participants were: William C. Friday ’41, president emeritus of the UNC System; Suzanne Gordon ’75, chief information officer of SAS and former second vice chair of the NC State Board of Trustees; Dwuan June ’90, assistant news editor at The Washington Post and former editor of Technician; Billy Maddalon ’90, co-owner of Unique Southern Properties and former chair of the Alumni Association Board of Directors; Jim Martin, a chemistry professor and former chair of the NC State Faculty Senate; and Art Padilla ’69, ’71 MS, an expert on leadership in higher education and head of NC State’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. An edited transcript of their Aug. 4 conversation follows.
—Rebecca Morphis
NC State: Does what happened here recently indicate something about our culture at NC State?
Friday: [I] think what we’ve been going through is a phenomenon that has happened across the country. I mean by that, the intrusion of politics into the life of an academic enterprise. For example, in the state of Illinois this very week, the Board of Trustees there is being asked to resign. Some of them [were appointed] by a previous governor who is now in prison, and [his successor], who is going to go to prison, apparently. The whole thing shows you what politics can do when you get to tampering with the administrative structure of an institution.
I’m not alleging anything here in North Carolina. I don’t know what the true facts will turn out to be. But we do know that rigidity on this point is very critical to the life of a university. A public institution is of the public process, to be sure. We are a creature of the state. We are financed by the state. We serve the state. But that is far and away a role quite different from being in the political life of the state. [Y]ou step across the line once in any substantive way and you’re in trouble, because there’s always the second time, and a third time, and a fourth time, as Illinois is showing you right now. [There are all kinds of questions that remain to be resolved.] So that’s the role of the trustees. Their job is to maintain that posture of open, free inquiry and involvement. (more…)
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09.14.2009 | by Chris Richter | Filed under College of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
College of Veterinary Medicine dean Dr. Warwick Arden, who’s also serving as provost, was on WUNC’s The State of Things today for a wide-ranging interview that touched on everything from the Easley scandal to NC State research to the proposed research lab in Butner to his childhood in Australia.
You can find the audio on The State of Things‘ home page.
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08.27.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: One response |
State Auditor Beth Wood released today an interim report — a follow-up to a January audit — about her office’s investigation into the salary and raise of Mary Easley, wife of former N.C. Gov. Mike Easley. From the report:
“The preliminary finding expresses the conclusion that Ms. Easley’s salary [$170,000] was excessive. However, the University’s response and further consideration have raised valid concerns about the conclusion, at least to the amount considered excessive.”
Read the report (PDF).
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08.14.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
From The N&O:
Former N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger just got a pay cut.
Oblinger, who resigned in early June amid revelations over his role in the hiring of former First Lady Mary Easley, had until today been earning his full administrative salary - $420,000 annually, or $35,000 a month.
Under an agreement he forged with UNC system President Erskine Bowles when he resigned, he was to receive that full salary for six months before returning to the faculty at a lower wage.
The UNC system’s Board of Governors voted Friday to scale his pay back immediately. He will now earn $173,000 annually, a salary commensurate with other members of the NCSU faculty. He will teach food science.
“This is absolutely an appropriate salary, and after such a careful process I am completely comfortable with it,” said James Woodward, NCSU’s interim chancellor.
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07.27.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Alumni News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
NewRaleigh.com writes about efforts to put the color back in D.H. Hill Libraries’ Color Wall. . . . An NC State food safety specialist talks to USA Today about the proper way to can fruits and vegetables. . . . Philip Freelon ’75 appears on UNC-TV to discuss his architecture firms’ plans for the Smithsonian’s Museum of African American History and Culture. . . . Volunteers try to drum up support for businesses on Hillsborough Street. . . . The N&O breaks down how Mary Easley spent her time at NC State. . . . The N&O excerpts leadership advice from essays in Secrets of Success: North Carolina Values-Based Leadership, a book developed by NC State’s Gen. H. Hugh Shelton Leadership Center.
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07.23.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
Mary Easley, the wife of former N.C. Gov. Mike Easley, has begun the formal grievance process against NC State for the termination of her contract. Chancellor Jim Woodward terminated her contract effective June 10 citing “the economic downturn.”
Chancellor Woodward said that, in keeping with the university’s grievance procedures and state law, the grievance hearing will be closed but that the university would share the outcome.
“It is essential to the integrity of the process that the grievance proceedings be closed,” he said. “This is a confidential personnel matter and will be treated as such. At the conclusion of the process, we will make the outcome public.”
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07.10.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
NC State’s lawyers released today more documents related to the hiring of Mary Easley to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They also handed over a report from Risk Management Associates (RMA) indicating that the IT forensics firm “was unable to recover any additional e-mails or documents” from an e-mail account belonging to former Chancellor James L. Oblinger. The lawyers had reported on June 24 that e-mails sent from and received by one of Oblinger’s e-mail accounts between January 2005 and June 11, 2005, had been deleted.
[RMA] said that the desk top computer used by Oblinger in that time period had been “scrubbed” of all data and reissued to someone else. A laptop used by Oblinger then was also located but contained no information.
RMA concluded that “any deletions from this account of emails or documents for this time period occurred prior to September 3, 2005.” The firm also said it was impossible to know who deleted the e-mails.
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07.09.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
Reported today on the N&O’s Web site:
A new subpoena issued to N.C. State University seeks more documents about Mary Easley’s jobs at N.C. State and shows that investigators want to know more about deleted e-mail messages from former Chancellor James Oblinger’s high priority account.
The subpoena was received this week, according to NCSU Chancellor James Woodward.
They show that investigators want to know how the former first lady was using her time. The request demands “all documents relating to vacation days accrued by Mary P. Easley in connection with her employment … including, without limitation, documents reflecting the days on which she used a vacation day and any compensation she received in lieu of using her accrued vacation days.”
The subpoena also asks for information about the employment of Wendy Brown-Nelson, a former development officer at NC State who worked alongside Easley to raise money for the Millennium Seminars speaker series. She spoke with federal investigators for several hours yesterday “about her job duties at NC State.”
Update: Technician has a story today in which Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Marc Hoit says the university’s e-mail retention policy has been updated to “more accurately follow laws regarding retention and deleting of business e-mails that faculty created.” The revised policy, currently being reviewed by the university’s Legal Affairs office, comes after it was reported that e-mails sent from and received by an account belonging to Oblinger between January 2005 and June 11, 2005, had been deleted.
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07.02.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
Following an announcement that Mary Easley will appeal her dismissal from NC State, Chancellor Jim Woodward met with editors and reporters at The N&O Wednesday and told them that he stood “behind his decision to eliminate Easley’s position” and that the university is “highly unlikely to negotiate a settlement with [the] former first lady” because “NCSU does not have the money for any settlement.”
Woodward added that
. . . Easley “had to know” that her husband, one of his top aides and a member of the university’s Board of Trustees played a role in the creation of her job.
“I think she was well aware of the efforts made on her behalf to get her a new job and a new contract,” Woodward said. “And those efforts were highly inappropriate.”
Woodward also addressed why former Chancellor James L. Oblinger and Provost Larry Nielsen, both who have resigned, will be able to return to faculty positions after a six-month study leave.
“Once you get tenure, it should be extremely hard to take away,” he said. He said their actions did not rise to that level.
While he knows that former Gov. [Mike] Easley helped orchestrate the creation of Mary Easley’s NCSU job in 2005, Woodward said he can’t find evidence of a quid pro quo.
“I can’t see where N.C. State got anything as a result of that,” he said. “What could the governor do that could bring some short-term benefit to N.C. State? I can’t identify anything.”
In an interview with us, Woodward further spoke on tenure:
I fully understand when people who read or hear about tenure, in some instances, say, “Gee, that’s not right.”
(more…)
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06.30.2009 | by Cherry Crayton | Filed under Campus News, NC State in the News | Comments: No responses |
NC State has launched a Web site that has all the documents and university statements related to the 2005 hiring of Mary Easley, the wife of former Gov. Mike Easley, who is under federal investigation. The site also includes links to news reports and commentaries about the investigation and the resignation of former Chancellor James L. Oblinger.
You can find our coverage, which includes exclusive interviews with members of the NC State Board of Trustees, UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday ’41 and Chancellor Jim Woodward, by clicking “Resignation” under “Tag Cloud” in the right column.
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